Comparing Henry Miller and Jack Kerouac
I. Introduction
It has never been an uncommon thing for one to retreat to nature in an attempt to ‘find one’s self,’ and somewhat cliché these days is the retreat to nature to ‘find God.’ Hundreds of books, essays, seminars, and retreats devote themselves to helping one understand how to find enlightenment and healing through connecting with nature. It is a phenomenon that transcends religious boundaries—everyone, from Buddhists to Christian Mystics to Quakers, seems to think that the key (or, at least, one of the keys) to enlightenment lies in nature. As one may suppose, this is not a new concept. Throughout literary history, there is a distinct trend of authors praising the virtues of nature,
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However, he took no pride in the final result, claiming that "nobody believes; perhaps the real secret lies in making people believe. That the book was inadequate, faulty, bad, terrible, as they said, was only natural. [He] was attempting at the start what a man of genius would have undertaken at the end"(ibid.) In 1923, Miller met and married June Mansfield after divorcing his first wife. While this marriage proved to be faithless, he found in her inspiration. She encouraged him to put his energy into writing, and the “passion and madness” of their marriage further fuelled him (“Henry Miller” 2). Eventually, problems with June drove him to Paris without her (despite the fact that it was funded by her), where he spent many years writing what is now considered to be the opuses of his repertoire (”Henry Miller” 1). While in Paris, he wrote Tropic of Cancer—which is still his most famous work—which, along with Tropic of Capricorn, chronicles his life in Paris. Both books were banned in the United States, “which spawned a thirty year censorship debate that was eventually won by Miller” (”Henry Miller” 1). The publication of these and following works helped perpetuate the image of Miller as a “legendary character, a kind of folk hero, the Paul Bunyan of literature, larger than life as exile, bohemian, and rebel, the great
Miller writes the story in a very unique way. He gives his readers a chance to explore the words written on his pages, with the hope that the reader is able to draw their own conclusions from his work. His unparalleled approach to the essay forces the reader to use critical thinking in order to make since of the essay. Miller’s feelings about reading, writing and the
The Grapes of Wrath, written by John Steinbeck, is a novel depicting life during the Dust Bowl, while The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller is a semi-fiction version of the Salem Witch Trials. Despite these vast differences they both share three main character dependant themes. The sorrow of regret, the destruction of one’s religion, and the greed of some at the expense of many.
While reading different essays addressing the topic of nature, I came to the conclusion that they all shared the idea that being outside can make an impact in everyone no matter if you believe you only belong in a city or forest because it can bring you serenity and show you all the amazing things you wouldn't be able to see anywhere else. In Wendell Berry’s essay “An Entrance to the Woods,” he states that people can use the quiet of the woods to forget all their problems. Berry wrote “One is that, though I am here in body, my mind and my nerves too are not yet altogether here. We seem to grant to our high-speed roads and our airlines the rather thoughtless assumption that people can change places as rapidly as their bodies can be transported.” Nature has a way to transport ones mind and spirit elsewhere while the body is left behind on earth as we travel deep into thought. Adding on to that idea, the essay “A City Person Encountering Nature” by Maxine Hong Kingston the author explains that nature is a giver of peace and patience with its slow cycles that may frustrate people, but help keep a sane mind. Society is fast paced, making everyone feel that they need to keep the same pace in order to get things done, but we don't realize that although our bodies are moving and pushing, our minds are exhausted and cannot keep up with the fast pace. Kingston wrote “Preferring the city myself, I can better discern natural phenomena when books point them out; I also need to verify
During Millers lifespan he was effected by many important struggles and successes in America that shaped not only him but his legacy. One of the significant early struggles that shaped Miller was the Great Depression. During this time his father lost his small manufacturing business. This period created much doubt to a young Arthur Miller about his existence, security, and religion. He then began leaning “left”, politically. Around the early 1900s the arts, theater more specifically, was the most avant-garde way for left
Focusing on another author that outlined differences between Americans and Europeans, Henry James created a fictional tale of results when societies collided rather than using Twain’s firsthand travel perspective. The novel allowed the writer to capture the essence of culture distinctiveness between nations through characters such as Winterbourne, Daisy Miller, and Mrs. Walker. While the name “Winterbourne” demonstrated a preconceived conflict for the American-born man turned European, Daisy Miller took on the role of “a pretty American flirt” (James 13). Examining Twain’s notion about gaps between expectation and reality,
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” depicts a journey into the woods as a representation of a loss of faith. It starts off with the protagonist Young Goodman Brown and his wife Faith being representative of his actual faith, which in both cases disappear further and further from him as the story progresses. However; when taking a closer look, the story of Young Goodman Brown has a much deeper meaning than just a religious trip. The story can also be viewed as a growing child learning and experiencing new things, and in this case Brown is the child. When looking at the main character’s name, which also doubles as the title of the piece, it already gives the reader insight as to who Brown is.
have been many tragic heroes which can relate to Arthur Miller’s essay “Tragedy and the
Be that as it may, as I continued reading the accompanying segments, I understood that what the writer tries to do is to impact his worry about how individuals see perusing and writing in our days. Miller trying to transmit to the reader that reading and writing have capable impacts in individuals and their creative energy, however Miller trusts the force of perusing and composing is not being used as much in the advanced world. Through the illustrations he introduces in the "Dark Night of the Soul" he tries to demonstrate alternate points of view of perusing and composing so that the reader understands that both are truly intense substances which can have a major impact in somebody's life. In the sovereign of Darkness we are acquainted with a story, concentrated on two scholars, where each and every demonstration depicted is by one means or another identified with the universe of perusing and composing. In the accompanying segment, following the world, we become more acquainted with McCandless’s story, a case of the silliness of the individuals who trust more in the force of books than in the force of the normal
In the excerpt from long essay Nature, Ralph Waldo Emerson writes about his connection to God through nature by going to nature in the state of solitude. Understanding the nature and the world in the perception of the belief in God, Emerson finds the beauty behind the nature, “ the perpetual presence of the sublime” (7). In the love for nature, the writer connects to the insight and transforms mind to the state of uplifting into “infinite space” to be a “particle of God” (7). To Emerson, once the mind is in the state of solitude , embraces the spirit of childhood and becomes invisible to egotism , an uplifting experience with nature will open.
Nature, Ralph Waldo Emerson long essay, was written in 1836, and at the time it presented very progressive ideas. Not only Nature presented a novel way to connect with God, but it also changed, to some extent, previous beliefs about the natural world. For most of human history the wilderness was a place that provoked fear and meant trouble. Emerson argued differently, for him nature was part of God 's creation, and, thus could not mean any harm .Furthermore, he asserted that to truly experience the richness of the natural world, one should step in not only with an open mind, but also with a child like curiosity, and more importantly, is should be done in solitude.
Arthur Miller, in his plays, deals with the injustice of society's moral values and the characters who are vulnerable to its cruelty. A good majority of these plays were very successful and earned numerous awards. According to Brooks Atkinson, a critic for the New York Times, Miller's play Death of a Salesman was successful because the play "is so simple in style and so inevitable in theme that it scarcely seems like a thing that has been written and acted. For Mr. Miller has looked with compassion into the hearts of some ordinary Americans and quietly transferred their hopes and anguish to the theater" (Babusci 1261). This play, in 1949, received the Pulitzer Prize, the New York Drama Critics Circle Award, the
In Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Nature, the religious, philosophical, and nature loving impressions of transcendentalism resume the endorsement of individuality, but now, it distinguishes itself by including nature into the forefront of creation. Through nature, man receives the tenets of truth by reflecting upon the connection between man and nature.
For it is in nature that we are exposed to "the perpetual presence of the sublime. " When we gaze at the stars it is then that we become aware of the distinction between the material world and the natural world. The truths of the world can also be found in the tumult of cities but only to the true lover of nature. Nature therefore becomes the symbol of the unity of divinity, it is the demonstration and representation of the ever- presence of God. Nature is thus the representation of truth and perfection, and one only has to go to nature to retain his original sense of wonder. Nature becomes an encompassing whole able to explain the mysteries of the
Arthur Miller was best known for his play that he wrote which made it to Broadway, but his other works may have been some of the most electrifying stories from this era. Arthur Miller was born in Harlem, New York on October 17th, 1915. His family lost nearly everything they had in the stock market crash of 1929, however Arthur Miller attended the University of Michigan to study journalism in 1929 (“Arthur Miller” 1). While he attended Michigan, he was the night editor of the student paper, the “Michigan Daily”. Arthur Miller is best known for writing radio plays, screenplays, short stories, and novels (1). While in college, Miller won several awards including the “Avery Hopwood Award” for the first play he wrote, No Villain. After college, Arthur Miller moved back home to begin his career in playwriting. Arthur Miller’s writings defied his readers by being fearless in his stories that he wrote. Miller worked very hard to get the best information for his stories. One example was The Crucible, this was about Joe McCarthy and his communist hunts (1). Miller wrote about this and got down to the last detail. Miller was even blacklisted, which prevented him from working in theaters and for movie companies, this was soon reversed however, as it was unnecessary (3).
There are many writers in the world, but only Arthur Miller is considered the greatest playwright and writer. His life started pretty much like everyone else. He grew up going to school and had the same experiences that most people did, except he was influenced by these experiences and used them in his writing. He also used writing to promote his different beliefs. He was a writer who wrote with a purpose and actually helped people learn. Arthur Miller is one of the greatest authors of all time, which is shown throughout his childhood, education, life, and his accomplishments.